Dr Funmi Adewole Elliott is a performer, dramaturge and academic. She started out as a media practitioner in Nigeria and moved into performance on relocation to England in 1994. For several years she toured with African dance drama and physical theatre companies. Her credits include performances with Horse and Bamboo Mask and Puppetry Company, Artists-in-Exile, Adzido Pan-African Dance Ensemble, and The Chomondeleys, a contemporary dance company. As a dramaturge she works mainly with theatre-makers and choreographers who draw on Africa and diaspora forms or who are interdisciplinary in focus. Funmi has a MA in Postcolonial studies and a PhD in Dance studies. She received a life-time achievement award in 2019 from One Dance UK for contributing to changing perceptions of the Dance of the African Diaspora. She is presently a senior lecturer in Dance at De Montfort University, England.
I am excited by the focus of the MA Dance: Participation, Communities, Activism which will support artists around the world in developing their knowledge and skills in relation to the places where they live and the people with whom they live. It will also provide the opportunity for artists to acquire the language, outlook and networks that will enable them to respond to global issues. In this digitised world knowing how to grapple with the tensions between the local and the global is becoming more and more important for artivists.
Dr Funmi Adewole Elliott